Walk in the Woods, Part II

Well, we did see the sun briefly this morning, but it's dark and cloudy now and the rain is approaching.  Check out our delightful local forecast below.  Lots of pictures tonight, but I already cut out half - can't cut any further!

I left the first pine plantation that I described in yesterday's post, passed this big old White Ash tree, and headed into the second block of White Pine.

Most of the White Pines here seemed quite healthy.  The thinning several years ago has done it good.

There are several sinkholes in this property, where the water finds its way through cracks in the limestone below, leaving a depression on the surface.  This is one of the smaller ones, about 6 feet across and 4 feet deep.

It was an easy walking trail all the way through, though there isn't enough snow any more for the cross-country skiers.

But at the end of this you come to a small stand of Red Pine, in terrible condition.  These trees are nearly 40 years old, tall and very thin, and dying.  They should have been thilnned 20 years ago.

Many of the standing trees are already dead.  The forester's advice was to clear cut it and start afresh!  Luckily it's a small patch.

Leaving the pines I stepped into the beautiful deciduous forest, passing this big old Sugar Maple stump I've stopped at many times before.

It's mostly Sugar Maple, but there are also several huge old American Beech.

Unfortunately they're all subject to a disease caused by yet another invasive fungus.  But I liked the colours in this huge broken tree trunk.

There are 2 or 3 acres here that are some of the nicest deciduous forest along the entire Bruce Trail (marked by the white blazes).

One of my favourite big old forest giants, one of the tallest, straightest Sugar Maples I know.

More animal tracks too.  Here some very fresh tracks of White-tailed Deer.

And I'm pretty sure this one is a Coyote, also quite fresh.

The trail follows the top edge of a steep slope, and 40 or 50 years ago the farmer had fenced off the pasture so the cattle wouldn't head down the hill.  The forest has been growing a long time since then, and the fence is mostly dilapidated.

After that it was just a nice walk through the rest of the woods back to the car.  A beautiful late winter walk in the woods.  As for the local forecast.......

See that "10-15 cm" in the centre of the map?  We live right under the "15".  And there's been one change in the map tonight; it now says "15-25 cm"!  Wish us luck while winter revisits again!

And keep your moisture-laden Texas lows down there in Texas where they belong, not up here bumping into our nice cool northern air where they bring snow instead of rain!